Apparatus to scrape and extract drain clog debris

Abstract

An apparatus for removing a clog from a drain consists of an elongated, flexible shaft member with a corkscrew or coil member with an integrated handle at one end and a scraper element at the other end. Inserting the scraper element end into a clogged drain and manually turning the handle allows the scraper element to scrape the materials causing the clog to be scraped from the inside of the drain while the corkscrew portion of the apparatus worms through the matter that is clogging the drain, and when the apparatus is pulled from the drain the clogging matter is held within the corkscrew member to capture the clogging matter or debris for easy removal.

Claims

1. Apparatus for scraping the interior of a drain and removing a clog from a drain, comprising: (a) an elongated flexible shaft; (b) the elongated flexible shaft having a coil portion and a scraper element at a distal end, said scraper element having at least one scraper edge to engage an inner wall of said drain; (c) a handle, wherein the handle is integrated to the flexible shaft at the end of the flexible shaft opposite the scraper element end of the shaft, whereby a turning of said handle causes said scraper edge to engage said inner wall of said drain and scrape gunk from said inner wall of said drain; and (d) wherein said scraper element has said scraper edge on a first side of said distal end and a second scraper edge on an opposite side of said distal end.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said scraper element has a distal end formed in a sawtooth pattern of at least two teeth.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the coil portion extends from the scraper element end of the flexible shaft to the handle portion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said scraper element is integrally molded as an end of said elongate, flexible shaft and said scraper element is formed in a shape of a shovel head with a width at least as great as a diameter of said.

5. Apparatus for scraping an inner wall of a drain, comprising: (a) an elongated, flexible shaft having a proximal end and a distal end; (b) the elongated, flexible shaft having a portion at least partially formed as a coil; (c) a handle integrally molded as the proximal end of the elongate, flexible shaft; and (d) a scraper element integrally molded at the end of the flexible shaft opposite the handle, said scraper element being formed in the shape of a shovel having a width at least as great as a diameter of said coil.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the scraper element has a straight scraper edge on either side of said scraper element each of said scraper edges being designed to engage said inner wall of said drain to remove gunk from said inner wall when said handle is turned while said scraper element is inside of said drain.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the scraper element has a distil end scraper element formed in a sawtooth pattern with at least two teeth.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the scraper element is formed of an injected plastic.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1A is a plan view showing one embodiment of the device in accordance with this invention;

(2) FIG. 1B is a plan view showing another embodiment of the device in accordance with this invention;

(3) FIG. 1C is a schematic sectional view taken along, line 1C-1C of FIG. 1B showing one embodiment of the device;

(4) FIG. 2 is a cross section of a drain view showing the device in accordance with this invention being, inserted into a drain with the distal end approaching a clog;

(5) FIG. 3 is a cross section of a drain view showing the device in accordance with this invention with the distal end having wormed or corkscrewed through the a clog;

(6) FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the drain cleaning device in, accordance with this invention shown in the removal of a clog from a drain; and

(7) FIG. 5 is a close up view of area 5 of FIG. 4 showing the removal of a clog from a drain.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(8) Referring now to the drawings, in particular FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the apparatus of the present invention is generally shown in the Figures as reference numeral 100.

(9) The apparatus 100 has a proximal end 120 and a distal end 140, and consists of a handle 150 with an extended or elongated shaft 155 formed into a coil 160. Preferably, the shaft and, coil 160 is substantially of a cylindrical cross section as shown in FIG. 1C, where the shaft 155 is wound helically about an axis to form the coil 160 or worm, a scraper element at the lower, distal end 140 for initial insertion into a drain (as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3), although the distal end 140 could be blunt, in the preferred embodiment the distal end side of the scraper element is formed in a sawtooth pattern of at least 2 teeth.

(10) The handle 150 at the upper, or proximal end 120, can be of any shape and size provided it can be gripped and turned (as shown in FIG. 5) to aid in rotation of the device 100.

(11) Looking at FIG. 1A, elongated shaft 155 can be wound into the coil 160 substantially all the way from distal end 140 (the scraper element) to the handle 150, or as shown in FIG. 1B, the preferred embodiment, the coil 160 may be formed only partially along the elongated shaft to leave more shaft extending from the handle.

(12) As best seen in FIG. 1A, the individual turns or coils 170 can be uniform in size (diameter) and spacing (shown as B on FIG. 1A), but (not shown), individual turns or coils may be of a different size and spacing, with some coils having tighter spacing than other coils.

(13) Coils 170 have as shown in FIG. 1B, an outer surface 180, and an inner surface 190. The outer surface 180 can be a clean surface, or the outer surface can have micro barbs formed on at least part of coil 160. These micro barbs can be of any shape that will hold onto clog matter in a drain, but are small enough in size with blunt or rounded ends so as not to be sharp or to present a safety hazard to a user. Inner surface 190 is preferably a clean surface, as smooth as possible to allow the clog matter to climb up the coil 160.

(14) Operation of the device 100 is shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5. A person grips the device 100 by its handle 150. As show in FIGS. 2 and 3, the device 100 is then inserted into the drain 200, with the distal end 140 moving toward a clog 220.

(15) FIG. 3 shows the device 100 fully inserted into the drain 200, with coil 160 passing through clog 220. Rather than being pushed through clog 220, the coil 160 is wormed, or corkscrewed through clog 220 by a person turning handle 150. The turning motion of the device 100 causes the scraping edges (see FIG. 1A, 141, 142, and 143) of the scraping element to at times engage the inner wall of the drain as the device 100 is rotated. Contact with the rotating scraper element will scrape the clog materials off of the inner wall of the drain thereby producing a cleaner drain than was possible with prior tools and methods. Then the clog 220 will climb the coil 160 due to the rotation of the device 100 which makes it easier to pull up and extract the clog 220.

(16) As shown in FIG. 4, the device 100 is then withdrawn from the drain 200 in the direction as shown by the arrow in FIG. 4, with the clog 220 being removed from the drain. As more clearly show in FIG. 5, a close up of area 5 shown in FIG. 4, the clog 220 is substantially pulled up into and held within individual coils 170 of coil 160 by the corkscrew motion of a user turning handle 150.

(17) The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

(18) What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.